Reckless Abandon
by Deception's Call
Summary: As it turns out, he wouldn't be the one to leave the Avengers Initiative, but the Avengers Initiative were going to be the ones to leave him.


**A short drabble about Tony Stark because I think I might have an unhealthy obsession with him. **

**I think this kinda explores the impact that the people in Tony's life have on him. **

**Anyway, thank you for your reviews on 'Sleepless Nights,' they keep me so motivated to keep writing. So thank you for taking your time to write a review :)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers.**

* * *

They left him.

After a mission gone awry where Tony had disobeyed orders, a building collapsed and trapped civilians and injured Natasha and Clint in the process.

He didn't mean it, his earpiece broke.

But by morning, there wasn't a trace left of the assassins.

* * *

Steve left soon after that.

Tony expected it.

* * *

After the mission, Thor never came back from Asgard.

* * *

Bruce stayed for a while, but he ended up leaving Tony too.

Last time Tony heard, he was helping earthquake victims in Indonesia.

He wishes he could be as good as him.

* * *

Tony never saw them again.

He had received a letter in the mail a week after the mission, and was notified that the incident was the last straw, and that he was doing more bad than good.

He thinks it's another way to put that he's not worthy enough.

As it turns out, he wouldn't be the one to leave the Avengers Initiative, but the Avengers Initiative were going to be the ones to leave him.

* * *

A year passed, and then Pepper finally left.

She had said that she couldn't take the stress anymore. That she didn't want to be in danger and that she didn't want to live her life constantly wondering and worrying if she's going to see him alive the next morning.

He thought of the ring hidden away at the bottom of his drawer.

His heart broke at the thought.

But he let her go.

* * *

Happy left after Pepper, and they found comfort in each other.

Tony never bothered to replace them.

* * *

Another year passed, and Rhodey was stationed in Afghanistan.

He never heard from him again.

* * *

Everyone had left.

The silence in the Tower was deafening. The pounding inside Tony's head seemed to fill the room, and Tony couldn't seem to hear anything but his own heartbeat.

It left him to his own thoughts most of the time.

He's put a gun to his head twice.

* * *

Another year passed, and it's been three years since the mission.

Tony sold his house in Malibu, but kept the Tower.

He retreated into his lab most days, and kept it on lockdown.

The tabloids wonder where Tony Stark has gone.

* * *

Another year, and Tony's still in his lab, tinkering away, and the silence is slowly driving him insane.

Sometime that year, JARVIS stopped responding. Dummy, You and Butterfingers followed soon after.

Tony most prized creations left him too.

That year, Tony sells his company.

* * *

Sometimes, Tony can hear laughter echoing down the halls.

If he listens closely, he can hear Clint and Natasha's playful bickering, Steve pounding punching bags, Thor's boisterous laughter and Bruce's jokes.

Rhodey and Happy's friendly teasing is there too.

His heart aches when he thinks he hears Pepper whispering sweet words in his ear.

He pretends that whenever he burns himself with a welding torch, that it's by accident.

* * *

Four years have passed, and the tabloids still wonder where Tony is.

The Avengers have become a worldwide phenomenon, but no one mentions Iron Man anymore.

There have been no sightings of the metal hero.

It's because the suit has been in his lab for four years, gathering dust.

* * *

Tony doesn't build things anymore.

He just sits in his workshop, ignoring the rumbling of his stomach, the ache in his heart and the voices that he hears.

He takes out his arc reactor once in a while.

* * *

By the time that Tony tries to make something for the first time in months, it catches fire and Dummy isn't there with a fire extinguisher.

Tony's too weak to stand up.

So the workshop slowly burns, the fire crackling and the smoke thickening with every minute that passes by.

When Tony breathes in the poisonous air, and feels the heat on his skin, he laughs for the first time in four years.

His hoarse manic laughter is drowned out by the walls of the tower and the crackling of the flames.

Tony now believes that he's finally getting what he deserves.

He's always known that he'd die alone.

So the Tower burns, with Tony Stark still inside it.

* * *

_Somewhere, the loud beep of a flat line sounds through the room._

* * *

**So that's it! I hope the ending it clear. Like as in, Tony was kinda in a coma and yeah ;P **

**Well I hope you guys liked it :)**

**I have an emotional attachment to angst fics. **

**Reviews for the 'Angst-Ridden Soul'?**


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